By Verghese V Joseph –
Bengaluru: A two-day international symposium on ‘Bible and Politics’ is being organised at St Peter’s Pontifical Institute, Bangalore on February 25 and 26, 2019. The conference is a joint initiative between St Peter’s Pontifical Institute and Catholic University of Paris.
This prestigious event is held in the honour of Prof. Rev. Dr. Olivier Artus, Professor of Old Testament, Catholic University of Paris in the presence of His Grace Most
Rev. Dr Bernard Moras, Archbishop Emeritus of the Archdiocese of Bangalore and His Grace Most Rev. Dr Herve Giraud, Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Sens-Auserre, France.
The two-day session will see a total of nine presentations including the Keynote address. The Inaugural session will begin with a welcome address by Prof Rev. Dr P Joseph Titus, President, St
Peter’s Pontifical Institute; greetings from His Grace Most Rev. Dr Bernard Moras and His Grace Most Rev. Dr Herve Giraud, Fr Joseph Benedict Mathias,
Rector, St Peter’s Pontifical Institute, respectively. The Keynote address will be delivered by Prof. Rev. Dr. Sophie Ramond, HoD, Catholic University of Paris.
“The first session speakers are Prof. Rev. Dr. Lucien Lengrad, New Testament, St. Peter’s Pontifical Institute, Rev. Dr. David Stanly Kumar, Old Testament and Prof
Dr. Patrick Artus, an economist from France. During the symposium a festschrift in honour of Prof Dr Olivier Artus will be released. Some of the papers presented will be read and discussed at length in in the symposium,” said Fr Joseph Titus.
Born on September 15, 1954 in Lille, the capital of the Hauts-de-France region in northern France, near the border with Belgium, Prof. Olivier Artus, is a doctor, catholic priest and exegete French, especially specialist of the Pentateuque.
Prof. Artus is first a doctor of medicine, having passed his thesis in 1983, Prof. He was ordained priest in 1988 and became a doctor of theology in 1997. He became Professor of Sacred Scripture (Old Testament) at the Catholic Institute of Paris (Theologicum – Faculty of Theology and Religious Sciences). He directed the School of Languages and Civilizations of the Ancient Orient (ELCOA) in this same Catholic Institute.
Prof. Artus was appointed in 2001 by Pope John Paul II, a member of the Pontifical Biblical Commission until 2014.
In his book ‘Jesus of Nazareth’, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI refers to the works of Prof Artus to describe the process of hermeneutics internal to Scripture.
Professors of sacred scriptures, research scholars, graduates of Biblical Studies and all Bible aficionados stand to benefit from the deliberations at the event.